Beginner Course – Croatia

We all meet at the Kaštela Marina, about 20 minutes drive from the town of Split, at 3pm. Then we head straight to the boat, and receive a safety briefing. Next is provisioning, where you learn tips & tricks to buying and storing food for a week-long sailing trip. Once the boat is stocked up, your instructor will give you a tour of the boat. This is where your pre-study will come in handy! Then you’re off, as you make a beautiful three-hour passage into the islands, heading towards the western edge of Solta to a small village called Maslinica. Typically we dine out in the village on this first evening.

Today you will have your first experience at the Sailing Virgins morning routine. Breathing, meditation, 7-minute workout, it’s as all-encompassing as you want it to be. Your instructor will take you through knots and points of sail, and you will get sailing on a fairly long stretch of around 3-4 hours to the Austro-Hungarian village of Komiža on the historical, strategically important island of Vis. There are plenty of adventures to be had around Grad Vis, including a cliff-jump for those who are into it (not for the inexperienced! It’s always your decision and your risk taken for these sorts of things, but we’ll rarely hold anyone back). In the port of Komiža, we typically tie up to a mooring ball (which is another skill you will learn today) and eat on board.

Waking up in Komiža, you and the crew may decide to grab a coffee and some WiFi at a cafe on the riva before getting into the morning’s theory session. Today is a shorter stretch, which allows us to carry out more sailing drills, helping you get comfortable with the concept of tacking and gybing. Theory-wise, you will cover weather and how it affects sailors. The wind is our fuel, so we give you tips and tricks on how to predict it so you can harness it. There are plenty of adventures to be had around Grad Vis, including a cliff-jump for those who are into it (not for the inexperienced! It’s always your decision and your risk taken for these sorts of things, but we’ll rarely hold anyone back). You will see what med-moorings are all about here, and learn what a skilled crew can do to help the skipper tie up to the riva (ie. the village).

Theory this morning is all about collision regulations (aka “colregs”) – one of the fundamentals of boating, and with a few tips and tricks to make remembering them easy. The sail today is east, to the island of Korčula. You can decide with your fellow students whether you would like an anchor-stern-to in one of the bays, or whether you’d like to head to the village of Vela Luka. Regardless, you will love Korčula.

Wake up, have a swim off the boat, and get into the morning routine. This morning’s theory centers around passage planning and the basics of navigation. The sailing component will take you to the island of Hvar, via the Green Caves, where you can climb the rock and check the hole at the top of the caves, barely wide enough to fit an adrenaline-loving soul. Hvar itself offers spots on the riva or mooring balls, and is usually a spot where we let our hair down, making a sunset stop at the legendary bar of Hula Hula.

Depending on how adventurous you were last night, this morning may be a slower start, with a coffee and croissant on the riva being well worthwhile. Our destination today is the island of Brač. Theory-wise, we will discuss methods of Man Overboard recovery, and practice them. You will have been studying your texts all week, as well as receiving pop-quizzes from your instructor. This all comes to a head today, where you sit the exam for whichever level you are attempting.

On the final day, we sail back to the Kaštela Marina in Split, consolidating all the lessons you picked up during the week. Tacking, gybing, terms, points of sail, man overboard recovery, weather, colregs, knots – all this and more will be revised, before you sit your exams on the Friday afternoon. We mark them on the spot, and have a high pass-rate, so if you have done your study and have picked up the basics, you will be fine!

The course finishes at 9am on the Saturday. You will receive a debrief and be anointed an ex-Virgin! Ex-Virgins receive a huge amount of benefits such as discounts on Sailing Virgins branded Zhik sailing gear and on charter rates worldwide.